I am a manager at a supermarket on the night shift. This remains the most baffling reason someone has ever behaved in a manner that got them fired.
[New Hire] has just started his shift today. This is, by his own admission, his first retail job. The night shift restocking can largely be separated into two phases. First, the night’s new arrival of product is emptied onto the shelves, or delivered to the back room if there’s no room on the shelves, and then we bring out stock from the back room to fill up any other empty spaces where applicable.
At the end of the first phase, [New Hire] loads up any of the unplaced product onto a pallet, brings it toward the back room… and makes the corner a little too sharply. I watch as the edge of the pallet slams into the wall, and the pallet jack halts abruptly enough for [New Hire] to end up on his a**. Fortunately, the pile of product on the pallet doesn’t topple, but I still go over to make sure [New Hire] is all right.
[Long-Timer] beats me there and starts yelling.
Long-Timer: “Get the f*** out of here! Yes, you! Get your things and f*** off! Go! Get out!”
Me: “Hey, slow your roll, [Long-Timer]. What do you think you’re doing?”
Long-Timer: “You saw what he did, [My Name]! He needs to f*** off!”
Me: “Okay, first of all, you don’t have the authority to fire people—”
Long-Timer: “I’m not firing him; I’m telling him to f*** off!”
I resist the urge to point out that that’s basically what a firing IS.
Me: “Secondly, [New Hire] hasn’t done anything wrong. Yes, he took the corner a little too hard, but he didn’t hurt anyone or break anything, so—”
Long-Timer: “He f***ed up! He was using the pallet jack, and he f***ed up!”
Me: “That’s… not a good reason for him to leave. [New Hire], are you hurt?”
New Hire: “No, I’m all right.”
Me: “Then carry on. Maybe be a little more careful making turns.”
[New Hire] continues into the back room with the pallet as [Long-Timer] storms up to me.
Long-Timer: “What the f*** is your problem, [My Name]?”
Me: “I should ask you the same thing. It’s his first day.”
Long-Timer: “And he f***ed up! He worked, he f***ed up, and he should be f****** off out of here!”
Me: “That makes absolutely no f****** sense. Get back to work and leave [New Hire] alone.”
[Long-Timer] refuses to leave [New Hire] alone, yelling at him every time he makes even the most irrelevant and inconsequential mistakes. I am constantly having to intervene and get him to leave [New Hire] alone, pointing out that such minor things as “not dragging the product to the front as soon as you’re done” are not things that need to be punished.
At the end of the shift, I inform [Long-Timer] that he needs to cease his hostility or HE is going to be fired.
Long-Timer: “What the f***?! You should be firing [New Hire]! He’s the one who keeps f****** up!”
Me: “What, you think that because he makes a bunch of minor mistakes that he can learn from, he shouldn’t be allowed to keep working here?”
Long-Timer: “Yes! He tried, he f***ed up, and he needs to f*** off!”
Me: “F*** that. I don’t know where you got that attitude, but you need to stop it. Leave him alone, or you’re fired.”
Long-Timer: “F*** you, [My Name]! I’m not letting that f***-up continue!”
Me: “Then you’re fired. Don’t come back tomorrow.”
It has been seven years, and [New Hire] is still here, no longer makes even those minor mistakes, and is one of my best workers. I still have no idea what [Long-Timer] was smoking.